Verdane Capital VIII K/S (Verdane VIII) has closed on commitments of Skr 2bn. The fund is Verdane’s largest to date and secures new capital for Nordic growth companies. Four Finnish investors have invested in the fund.
“We are pleased to announce that Verdane VIII has secured 2bn in commitments. The fund will be invested in Nordic companies with international growth potential active in IT, energy and advanced industry”, says Lars B. Thoresen, Managing Partner at Verdane Capital Advisors.
Ten new investors have invested in the fund, which is the largest Verdane fund ever. More than half of the fund’s capital comes from investors outside the Nordics.
“International investors have shown a great deal of interest in the Nordic market in recent years and have contributed over two thirds of the capital raised for the region in the past three years. Verdane funds hold a unique position in the Nordic market because they invest in unlisted portfolios – which the response to the latest fund clearly demonstrates. We are happy about the confidence these new and old investors have shown”, adds Lars B. Thoresen.
Finnish Industry Investment is one of the significant backers in Verdane VIII. The company first invested in a Verdane fund in 2009. Since then, Verdane funds have made three transactions in Finland and established a Helsinki office.
“We are pleased that Verdane Capital Advisors have been successful in rolling out their strategy in Finland”, comments Anne Riekki, Director, Fund Investments at Finnish Industry Investment. “We think that the firm has an important role to play in the Finnish private equity market by providing liquidity for unlisted holdings and supporting Finnish companies with new capital.”
Verdane VIII has already invested in sixteen companies through three different portfolios in Sweden and Norway; eEquity, Aggregate Media IV and Statoil Technology Invest. The companies are active in e-commerce, energy and IT.
“We are searching for further investment opportunities within these sectors, and within technology driven industry. We are primarily looking for opportunities to buy portfolios. We see a lot of interest in the solutions we can offer sellers and welcome the opportunity to get to know more potential sellers”, says Bjarne Lie, Managing Partner at Verdane Capital Advisors.
For further information, please contact:
Lars Thoresen, lars.thoresen@verdanecapital.com or +47 957 07 494
Bjarne Lie, bjarne.lie@verdanecapital.com or +47 918 15 508
About Verdane and Verdane Capital Advisors
Verdane Capital Advisors is the Nordic market’s largest and most successful independent manager of secondary direct funds. Verdane funds have more than Skr 6bn in committed capital and is focused on buying Nordic portfolios of direct investments in attractive sectors such as energy, ICT and general industries. The funds will also consider investments directly in selected growth-stage companies.
Since 2003, the funds advised by Verdane Capital Advisors have acquired 22 portfolios with stakes in over 250 companies. Verdane has invested in companies such as Mathem, BytHjul, Resman and Wireless Maingate. Former holdings include Coding Technologies, Chipcon, DIBS, Nacre, Reslink, Reslab and Tradedoubler. For more information, please visit www.verdanecapital.com.